Why Spend $ on Dish Hardware?

MNETOP

SatelliteGuys Family
Original poster
Sep 9, 2003
40
0
Austin, TX.
With all these recent discussions regarding upgrading/buying/spending $$ on new equipment, I wanted to throw the following for discussion:

The customers in the following list clearly have Dish as their best choice and in my opinion have no choice but invest on hardware:

• If you are in an area where non-satellite TV-Service is not available.
• If you are in search for non-Spanish International programming.
• If your local Cable company has not upgraded wiring and/or not offering much HDTV channels.
• You have checked you local cable picture quality and is not better than Dish.
• If you can’t live without the better features offered by the Dish DVRs.

So now the question that I would like to pose: If you are not part of any of the customer group that I listed above. Why would you be willing to invest any upfront money on any hardware from Dish?

In my case I woke up and decided that I was not going to invest in Dish hardware anymore. I don’t fit in any of the criteria I listed above. This transition to MPEG-4 is what made me start thinking about all this and pushed me to look at my other options (DTV, Cable.)

Before recently switching back to cable (2 weeks ago,) I had been a Dish customer since 1998 (I still have a 5000 model and have sold my 6000 on EBay.) That was the time when Dish was heads and shoulders above cable in everything: Price, picture quality, channel selection, customer service, etc... And that made it very worthwhile at least for me to spend $$ in hardware. Even in the beginning of HDTV that was still the case. I paid about $300 for my 5000 if I remember correctly and then I paid about $450.00 for my 6000 in the early 2000’s. But in my opinion, it is a very different story now. Price advantage is not there anymore (especially when you amortize the hardware $$), channel selection advantage not there, picture quality advantage (depending on your system) is not there anymore, customer service gap not there either. DVR is definitely better. But $700.00 or $300.00 better? I don't think so.

I have left my dishes out in case I want to consider returning to Dish in a year when my current cable deal runs out. But if I come back, it will have to be without having to put upfront money on any hardware. There would have to be a real HUGE technology and channel selection advantage for me to justify putting any $ on dish hardware.

What about you? Why are willing to put $ on Dish equipment?
 
Well the only people that have to pay $$ for dish hardware are those that want to watch HDTV. Now Dish will lease everything for you, you only have to pay up front if you want HDTV receivers. In 6-8 months this will probably go away too. So, you only have to pay if you want HDTV right now.
 
I'm in the same boat. I've been playing CSR roulette with Time Warner Cable to get the price I believe would suit me. I have the 521 DVR...but want to upgrade to a HD DVR. My wife will not allow me to spend $300 just for the right to lease a HD DVR...and to be honest...I can't blame her one bit.

Once I get a decent deal from TWC, I will be bailing ship as well.
 
I'm also in the same boat. I have no desire to pay Dish for leased equipment. Especially when I can get the cable equipment for no upfront costs and the same monthly rates as Dish.

I too have been a Dish customer since 1998, and HDTV subscriber.
 
In my area Charter cable wants $17 per month for a HD box and $27 per month for a DVR. The cable equipment costs for 2 hd boxes and a DVR would be more than the $300 622 upgrade, mirror fees and DVR fees that I will pay E* during the next year.
 
My cable company offers 5 or 6 channels of HD, the picture quality is not as good as Dish, the HD is HD lite, and for Digital cable, 2 HD DVR's, 4 Digital boxes, and only one movie package, the price was running $150 a month, and I coulldn't get any more HD boxes DVR or non from cable unless you buy them outright. And no CBS or NBC HD from cable, had to have seperate OTA tuner for that.

I will be paying $130 a month for 1 HD DVR, 1 SD DVR and 4 HD receivers, I have 5 HDTV's, and as a new subscriber I got the DVR and 2 211's for $399, then bought the other 3 receivers outright, so a $1400 investment, but I get all the movie channels for that, no DVR fees, and if it's like other equipment I sold, unless it's extremely old, it worth 50-60 percent when I sell it.

Had our cable company provided a decent picture at a fair price, it would have been a hard decision to go to Dish again.

I was at a friends house in a small (very small town) and the phone company had received a grant to provide HS internet to them, well, they also added DTV to the mix, so they get 120 channels of TV, plus DSL right from th phone company and the picture quality was much better than anything I have ever seen for SD, and all over copper. The box providing the TV service was smaller than a cable modem.
 
People looking for other than Spanish language international channels can also go the FTA satellite route. In many areas cable is starting to offer international channels. My cable operator (Adelphia) certainly isn't the best in the world, but they do offer a pretty good selection of internationals on the digital tier. As far as anyone else needing to buy equipment from Dish... I can't think of a good reason for new customers to do it at this point. Even existing customers - if they want to upgrade to HD leasing is a pretty good deal (at least it has been for me). I didn't rush out and buy a 921 for $1000 as soon as they came out, so I think I came out ahead.
 
About 6 months ago when Dish turned me down on a request for a 942 lease, I seriously considered going to TWC. I contacted them and did research on their equipment.

The thing that made me stay with Dish is the convinience offered by the dual-tuner Dish DVRs. Our 522 is currently the highest-WAF device in a house full of hi-tech gadgets - and it has this lead by leaps and bounds. The DVR functions coupled with the 522's 2-room capability and individual remote control tuner addresability are features that my wife would not want to live without.

Now, I use channel modualtors extensively in my home and can view any video component on any TV in the house - but the flexibility of doing this with the Dish receivers versus having to workaround this with the TWC receiver made me stick with Dish. The TWC HD dual tuner receiver works like a 522/942/622 in single mode only, which means - even if I used my own modulator to send a signal to TV2 - that the users of TV1 and 2 could intefere with eachother's viewing and/or recordng. Defineately not a contributor to high WAF.

My 622 should be waiting for me when I get home, and my install's next Friday. Hopefully, this will maintain WAF at its currently level or increase it slightly (the wife says she's looking forward to being able to see the wrinkles of all the stars on her favorite shows ;) )

I think if TWC and others offered the features of a 622 in their boxes, I would've switched (though now I'l be a Dish customer for at least another 18 months thanks to the 622 ;) )
 
berck said:
I'm also in the same boat. I have no desire to pay Dish for leased equipment. Especially when I can get the cable equipment for no upfront costs and the same monthly rates as Dish.

I too have been a Dish customer since 1998, and HDTV subscriber.
Which cable company is that and where are you in the country. Thanks

Oh BTW :welcome to SatelliteGuys
 
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Comcast here does not have any International channels, the Spanish package is small compared to E* and D*. HD line up is not bad, NBC, ABC, CBS and PBS are available in HD,(Fox here not in HD yet even ota and they do not carry WB in HD yet) they do have all of the premium HD channels from HBO, Cinamax, Showtime and Starz. Comcast only has 5 Expanded Basic HD channels; INHD, INHD2, ESPN HD, DHDT and TNT-HD only,(no ESPN2HD, currently showing NBCU-HD but not sure yet if it is a permanent addition or just for the Olympics only) they charge $5/mo for a HD STB if needed, other then that if you have Expanded Basic or higher you get all of their HD channels except the Premium HD channels which you get if you sub to a premium package, however if you want a DVR, it comes as a HD-DVR only and runs $9.95/mo, however Digital service is required but their is no up-front cost. When comparing packages, E* is cheaper for SD only, however when you add HD to the mix, Comcast comes out a little cheaper especially with the bundling deals, but with less National SD and HD basic channels. When I upgrade to HD in the next year or two, I do not know if I could justify the extra money both up-front and monthly to go with E* (of course until I build my new home, I have no choice but cable because of no line of sight. :( ) I am hoping that mike123abc is correct, "In 6-8 months this will probably go away too". I kind of think that Mike is probably correct, E* and D* both need to do this to stay competitive with cable.
 
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gbjbany said:
Which cable company is that and where are you in the country. Thanks

gbjbany,

Let me tell you what I am getting. 2 SA HDDVR's 8300 (I have 2 HDTVs), Every digital channel, HD pak which includes: TNT HD, Discovery HD, HDNet and HDNet Movies, iNHD1 and iNHD2, ESPN HD, Universal HD and all the Network HD feeds, HBO pak that includes the HD feed, Showtime pak that includes the HD feed plus the Spanish package for a grand total of $83.00 which includes all taxes and DVR fees. This with no upfront money with the exception of $19.99 for installation. I get this for 12 months with no commitments and I can cancel at any time with no fees. All I had to do is show my last Dish statement to get this deal.

Most of the non-HD channels look better, the Network HD signal looks almost as good the same as over the air and All other HD channels look great.

I am in Austin, Texas under TWC by the way.
 
Mnetop,

well that would make me think about moving too. comcast in sacramento here is offering 400 dollars ($25 per month for 16 months) for dish users but the monthly fees were $30-40 dollars a month more for the same service. hence me asking if others in my area had gotten sweet deals like ypu have.
thanks for the information.
 
gbjbany said:
Which cable company is that and where are you in the country. Thanks

Oh BTW :welcome to sateguys

Thanks, I've been lurking these boards for some time.

I'm in Pleasanton, CA and we have Comcast. They have the same HD line up as Dish, but without Zoom. They also have the main locals in HD too. I've been price comparing, the new Dish offer is about the same as equivalent Comcast line-up. The difference is the up front cost. The 622 will cost $299 to lease. Comcasts unit costs $0.00. Comcast charges a total of $9.98 for the lease and DVR features.
 
dlsnyder said:
People looking for other than Spanish language international channels can also go the FTA satellite route. In many areas cable is starting to offer international channels.
Is there a list of what internationals are available FTA? I'm primarily interested in greek, french and japanese channels. I must admit I know little about FTA, but my searches have come up empty. This E* monopoly of internationals is what keeps me hooked. Also, no such programming is available via cable here in Chicago, the #3 DMA market.

The original reason I signed up back in Jan 2000 was my thirst for HD programming. That need no longer exists because, although it still has more content, its quality is debatable. Furthermore, Comcast allows me to easily archive HD content, something that E* does not.
 

Anyone else getting WB ch.251 ?

Dish replaced my 622 with a 721

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